Wood-splitting machine



Jan. 1, 1952 J. H. DAGENAIS WOOD-SPLITTING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed April 2, 1948 J A M f/ 019667109/0 1952 J. H. DAGENAISWOQD-SPLITTING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 2, 1948 J. H.DAGENAIS WOOD-SPLITTING MACHINE Jan. 1, -1952 s Sheets-Sheei 3 FiledApril 2, 1948 mm a m W a 0 Z. H w K J Patented Jan. 1, 1952 UNITEDassonss WQQD-?PI G Joseph lienri Dagenais, Laval des Rapides,

Queb anada Ap ic ti n April 2, 194 Se i o.9. ,02 .05

In Canada October 30, 1941 Qleim- 1 My invention relates to improvementsin wood,- splitting machines in which a horizontally reciprocatingtraveller operates bymeans of; re- Versible hydraulic pressure arrangedto work in conjunction with the traveller; and the objects of myinvention are, first, to provide a. traveller provided with a series ofknives so disposed thereon as to quickly split a piece of wood in fourparts in a single operation; second, to provide means for holding apiece of wood to be split solidly on the machine during operation; and,third to provide means for preventing accidents to the operator of themachine.

I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which? Figure 1 shows the machine in elevation; Figs 2, asection through one of the knives; Fig. 3, a section showing part ofaccident preventing guards; Fig. 4, an end view of the machine; and Fig.5, a plan view of the machine.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The machine consists in a rectangular chassis om o ed of ou lon tudinal.members a bo t d in pairs and spaced apart vertically in. order to leavean opening 34 between them and it is in that space 36 that the wood isplaced to be split, the said members 5a being held apart by verticalplates 5 bolted thereon. The chassis is carried or supported on crossand longitudinal members 26 and 26'. Plates 35 are interposed betweenthe chassis and members 26.

A traveller or carriage generally described by numeral ll, comprises aplate I l sliding in a back and forth movement between the 'uppermembers 5a of the chassis and as will be observed in examining Figures 1and 4, the traveller is provided with wheels two of which i2 are placedat its upper side and two 2| at its lower part, the four wheels beingadapted to roll on members But two above the same and two under.

It should be noted that plate I I on which the wheels are journalledslides between spaces left between the upper and lower members 5a of thechassis. The reason of the wheels as disposed on 45 the traveller is toprevent the wedging of the plate in its back and forth movement and alsoto eliminate friction of the plate on members 5a.

On plate ll of the traveller, I place a number of knives 8 and 32 knife8 being secured in a vertical position on the plate, and knives 32 beingAs may be observed by referring to Figures 1 and 2 more particularly toFigure 2, it will be seen that knife 8 is placed between two bulged orconvex plates 9 bolted on plate H. Numeral 3,! designates bulged platessimilar to plates 9 and the functions of those convex plates will now beexplained, but before, I may state that the knives 32' are adjustablevertically by means of member [0 which slides in opening H1 in plate i Iof the traveller.

A piece of wood to be split is placedin space 34 of the chassis. Thetraveller is then put in action knife 8 contacting the centre of the'piece of wood which is pressed against plate 6 provided with a point 6-which enters into the wood to hold it steady in place. This plate 6 isadjustable vertically as shown at I. The traveller moves ahead underpressure from cylinder M with the result that knife 8 is sunk into thepiece of wood which is partially split in two, and as the travelleradvances farther, the two partially split pieces arrive in contact withthe edge 9 of convex plates 9 the reason of which being to spread thesplit wood to a certain extent in order to prevent jamming of the knife.The two partially split pieces of wood now come in contact with thelateral knives 32 the object of which being to split in two parts thealready split piece of wood in two. It will be noticed that knives 32are also provided with bulged plates 3| the functions of which are thesame as plates 9 of knife 8.

The initial piece of wood is now split in four parts and the travellerhas attained its limit of forward movement. Before explaining the returnof the traveller to its initial position, I will describe the functionsof safety guards 25.

Secured to plate I l and under the lower longitudinal members 5a, is areciprocating member 22; also secured to members is a double support 36at the base of which safety arms 25 are adapted to revolve the arms 25being fixed on an axle journalled in the support 36. Numeral 23designates a cam also secured on the safety arms axle and which is alsoadapted to revolve simultaneously therewith. The traveller being startedin its forward drive, member 22 is carried away thereby and upon comingin contact with the cam 23 will cause the arms 25 to revolve to a pointindicated at 29. Numeral 2'! indicates the ex- 0 treme forward positionof member 22.

placed one on each side thereof but at a certain distance behind theblade of knife 8 and with their cutting edge at right angles with theknife 8 that is to say, that knife 8 occupies a vertical position andknives 32 a horizontal position.

until it is finally split and the traveller returned to its initialposition.

safety guards in motion, consists of a motor I! and a hydraulic pumpcomprising a cylinder H into which slides a piston connected to a rodsecured to plate ll of the traveller. cylinder M which receives itswater from expansion pump I9 is provided with inlet l6 and outlet ISwith by-pass I8. The system of pump is the same as that used indump-truck for example,

and it is no part of this invention with the exception however of thecontrol mechanism causing the back and forth movement of the travellerand which I will now describe.

On the upper face of the upper pair of members 5a, is a rod l3 adaptedto slide thereon. The rod I3 is provided with depending handle 31 andtongue 38 and also slots 40 and guiding bolts 4|, one at each endthereof. This rod is adapted to slide back and forth and here is how itworks.

On approximately the centre of the rod, I cut a fairly long notchforming two shoulders I3 and I3" against which the upper wheels of thetraveller come in contact during its drive forward and backward. Whenthe machine is put into motion, the traveller and rod I3 occupy theposition shown in Figure 1 of the drawings and when the machine isstarted, the traveller will move ahead until its wheels come in contactwith shoulder I3 pushing rod I3 ahead with it until it reaches the endof its course when at the same time tongue 38 and rod 30 having beendrawn with it have caused the valve 33 to reverse the pressure in thecylinder M with the result that the traveller is now withdrawn backwardsuntil Wheels l2 of the traveller come in contact with shoulder I3pushing rod l3 back to its initial position when valve 33 is brought tooccupy a neutral position, the machine being then brought to astandstill until it is started again by slightly pulling forward rod l3.by the operator of the machine using handle 31 opening valve I3, thepressure behind the piston in cylinder l4 will push the traveller aheadfor a new cycle.

It will be easily seen that the safety arms are revolved ahead by theforward movement of The i the traveller, and that they are brought backunder the effect of the pressure exerted by spring 24 which has beencompressed by the traveller in its forward movement.

I claim:

In a wood splitting machine, the combination of a vertical rectangularframe madeof longitudinal members spaced apart by means of plates, thesaid frame being supported on cross members provided with skates fortransportation, a horizontally travelling unit adapted to move back andforth on rails secured on upper and lower members of the frame, a headon said travelling unit provided with three knives so disposed one onthe other for splitting a piece of wood in four sections,means forforcing said head towards the piece of wood to be split comprising acylinder having-a reciprocatingpiston connected to the travelling unit,a hydraulic pump for actuating said piston, controlling means forreversing the action of .the piston comprising a depending tonguesecured to said travelling unit and movin therewith and a rod pivoted onsaid tongue at one end and connected to said pump at its other end, saidknives comprising a main vertical knife permanently secured to saidhead, and two knives adjustably secured perpendicularly on said head andto said vertical knife, means on said knives for spreading the piece ofwood as it is being split consisting of convex plates secured thereon,an arm pivoting on one of the frame members and held in tension by aspring and disposed to be actuated by said travelling unit and saidspring for preventing the split wood from falling outside of the framewhile being split, and a plate at the forward end of the frame andadjustable thereon and provided with a point for holding the piece ofwood steady in place during the cutting operation.

JOSEPH HENRI DAGENAIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Schutz July 4, 1944

